The death of David Bowie, which was announced early Monday morning, caught most if not all by surprise. His medical condition and the extent of it was a guarded secret. He released an album last week, on his 69th birthday no less. The latter proved prophetic. He planned it that way, a final musical statement to coincide with his demise from a battle with cancer.

He was, in fact, a showman to the end.

It made me recall the only time I saw him in concert, at the Scope in Norfolk, Va. sometime in 1983. It was during his self-titled “Fabulous Moonlight” tour promoting his “Let’s Dance” album. It was another reinvention for the master of it — into a pop showman and tunesmith. Backed by a band of at least 20, Bowie emerged in his white “Man from Glad” suit and proceeded to put on one of the most charismatic shows I had seen to that point. It was a tight band, well rehearsed and rendered. As we emerged from the small arena on the waterfront, my longtime friend “Cuz’n” Roy Lee Gittens exclaimed, “he’s like Elvis man.”

And he was.

Today I’ll let editorial cartoonists from around the globe pay their respects.

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